How Kellyanne Conway makes and spends her $39 million fortune

Kellyanne Conway’s climb – from the strategist behind Donald Trump’s rise to his campaign manager to his White House counselor – has been closely watched by the media.

When Conway joined the Trump administration, she and her husband, George Conway, a lawyer in New York City, disclosed assets worth up to $39.3 million. Much of that wealth comes from Kellyanne’s political-polling business, which she started at 28 in 1995.

Here’s how she has amassed her fortune – and spent it – since graduating law school.

After graduating from law school at George Washington University, Conway worked as an assistant at a firm headed by Richard Wirthlin, who was President Ronald Reagan’s pollster and strategist. She later worked with Newt Gingrich in the 1990s.

In 1995, at 28, Conway founded The Polling Company. New York magazine reported that Conway quickly recognized “there was money to be made” in advising private corporations and politicians on how women vote.

In 2001, the newly married couple bought a condo in Trump World Tower, where they lived for seven years. It was during that time that Kellyanne met Trump. “I sat on the condo board, and he’s very involved in his condos,” she told The New Yorker.

In 2005, she wrote the book “What Women Really Want” with Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster.

By 2008, the Conways had moved to what Forbes has called one of “America’s most expensive ZIP codes” — Alpine, New Jersey. The family joined the Alpine Country Club in Demarest. Annual memberships can cost up to $75,000, plus $25,000 a year in dues.

Conway worked with Gingrich again during his 2012 presidential run. A few years later, The Polling Company began working with various Republican candidates, including Ben Carson and Ted Cruz starting in 2015.

While the super PAC behind Carson’s 2016 campaign paid The Polling Company $65,000, the company later worked with Cruz’s three PACs. When Cruz dropped out, one of his super PACs changed its name and backed Trump, continuing to work with the company. By October, Conway’s firm had made $1.9 million from the 2016 election.

In July, Conway joined Trump’s campaign team as an adviser, and she became campaign manager in August. At this time, her firm was still receiving payments from Trump’s PAC, according to Politico.

Today, much of Conway’s income — somewhere between $1 million and $5 million —comes from The Polling Company, and the couple has earned thousands in dividends from stocks. One Citibank account has been valued at between $500,000 and $1 million, according to reports